


Good Partnership

by JanecShannon



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: But its Tony so c'mon, Cuddling & Snuggling, Frenemies, How Do I Tag, Humor, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Mischief, Pretend Villain Loki, Repulsors, So Married, Tony Stark Still Has Arc Reactor, antics, please suggest tags, rated t for cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 07:30:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20671592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JanecShannon/pseuds/JanecShannon
Summary: Can you avoid villainous plans on Wednesday?It’s the sort of text that isn’t all that uncommon between them these days. It was bound to happen eventually. Loki and Tony are both showman. They both know how to make the best of any situation they’re put in. And the situation they’ve been put in currently is...Well.Fans.I currently have nothing planned but I was making arrangements for Thursday around one in the afternoon. Is there a particular reason?Children’s hospital visit, Tony texts back.I'll make time.Tony knows what’s really being offered.





	Good Partnership

**Author's Note:**

  * For [honestmischief](https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestmischief/gifts).

> The working title on this piece has been "Goddamnit Kate" because she prompted this on the FrostIron discord and I was like "ha ha, here's a funny bit" and then my brain went **no you are writing this now**. She carries the blame. Kate's prompt was actually a picture of a post from tumblr but I don't have a link to the original post. If anyone has it, let me know and I will link to that too. 
> 
> There is actually a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEx5lmbCKtY) of RDJ (pretending to be Tony Stark/Iron Man) giving a prosthetic arm to a little boy, I pulled some inspiration for this fic from that.

_Can you avoid villainous plans on Wednesday?_

It’s the sort of text that isn’t all that uncommon between them these days. It was bound to happen eventually. Loki and Tony are both showman. They both know how to make the best of any situation they’re put in. And the situation they’ve been put in currently is... 

Well. 

_Fans._

Loki is a whore for attention and adulation (even if he seems to be playing the villain of the story, he _thrives_) and Tony is all for fewer people getting hurt and fewer disruptions to his packed schedule. It’s a win-win(-win) situation. 

(And there are so few of those to go around, everyone knows you take them when you can get them.)

_I currently have nothing planned but I was making arrangements for Thursday around one in the afternoon. Is there a particular reason?_

_Children’s hospital visit_, Tony texts back. 

He honestly thinks that will be the end of the conversation. That’s _usually_ where that kind of conversation ends. _Please avoid this day / time_ or _Please keep this day / time free for hero-ing_. It's a good partnership. 

Tony is the one who has to cover most of the rebuild costs that accumulate from Avenging. Loki seems to cause a lot of damage but a portion of the sales from the Loki Merchandise goes towards rebuilding anything that gets broken. It’s an... unspoken agreement between them. 

No one really complains as long as it keeps Loki entertained. 

(And Tony, but no one is supposed to mention that a bored Tony is just as bad as a bored Loki.)

_I can make time for something._

If it were anyone else, Tony knew he would feel annoyed. If this were anyone else, Tony would see this as a blatant disregard of his request for a day off. If this were anyone else, he would curse their sudden invasion into his life. But, this is not anyone else and Tony knows how Loki thinks well enough to guess where he’s going with this. 

(Tony knows how Loki thinks because Loki thinks like _him_.)

So when Tony says _Please don’t do anything on Wednesday, I’m visiting children._

And Loki responds with _I can make time. _

Tony knows what’s really being offered. 

* * *

  


The young teenager holds her new (Iron Man) hand up to her face and wiggles the fingers. The internal mechanisms aren’t anywhere near as robust as the Iron Man armor. There’s no need to manufacture it with materials that will only add to the cost for the patients when it’s highly unlikely they’re going to be getting tossed through walls. 

This one has a couple of extras in it, though. For when Loki shows up. 

“Delicate enough you’ll be able to play piano again,” Tony promises. 

She lets off a ragged breath and starts playing an invisible piano in front of her. She chokes suddenly and her non-protheis hand comes up to cover her mouth as she stares at the orange and grey arm. “It doesn’t-” she chokes herself off again with a shake of her head. 

“It doesn’t what?” Tony asks, worried.

“The other one lagged. This one. Just. _Does_.” 

Tony’s watch vibrates. He meets the eye of the girl's mother, makes sure the camera crew that always attend these things are in the agreed position. 

Showtime.

An alarm sounds. 

A nurse rushes in, “Mr. Stark! It’s Loki!” 

"Mom?!" the girl is fairly calm, which is good. It's the reaction her mother _thought_ she would have but you never know with these things. 

Tony steps up to be a source of calm and direct this show and get it where it needs to go. 

Tony taps his chest in just the right spot and the arc reactor lights up, then seems to fizzle out as the nanites build a physical barrier inside to block the light. 

The ability to block the light is not new (flashlight in the middle of his chest can make hiding a tad difficult) but the fizzling was something he added just for this. 

“Oh my god,” the girl whispers when she realizes that Iron Man won’t be saving the day today. 

It’s ok. 

_She _will. 

Tony cleared it with her mother and everything. 

“It’s ok,” Tony tells her, calm and Leading This Shit. “You’ve got a couple of extra surprises built in. You’ll be safe.”

He pulls up his watch and taps a couple of buttons. The palm of the girl’s hand opens up to reveal what looks like a repulsor but is really little more than another pretty light show. 

Of course that’s when Loki appears. _Early_. 

Tony was _supposed _to have time to explain how to work the fake-repulsor to the girl. 

“I see my-" Loki starts in his usual menacing drawl but has to dodge as the girl unexpectedly figures out how to work the repulsor. Or, well, judging by the surprised squeak, she might have just accidently moved the right way accidentally. Tony’s usually pretty good about designing his stuff to avoid that kind of thing, though, so this is clearly not a failing on his part. 

It’s probably Loki’s. 

_Somehow_. 

“Well,” Loki says, smoothing his hair back after dodging the fake repulsor beam. “I see you have found some backup, Stark, now that my spell has prevented you from accessing your technology! I have told you many times of the superiority of my seidr and this merely proves it!” 

That is... a bit off script but fine. If that’s how he wants to play it. This is an argument Tony has won before, _asshole_. 

“The advantage of technology is that it can be shared!” Tony shouts, pointing at Loki accusingly. Though he has to admit, he's probably laying it on a bit thick. That’s ok though, kids eat this shit up. “I may be down but my companion here will defend Earth while I can’t!”

Loki lifts a hand and starts to gather green around it. It’s totally fine though, Tony has felt that green glowy glove after particularly bad battles. It works awesome for massages. 

“What good will a-” Loki is cut off as he’s forced to duck again. 

“I’ll protect you, Mr. Stark,” the girl promises, her new hand out in front of her in a mimicry of Iron Man’s repulsor pose. Her face is set in a determined frown and though there is the tiniest of trembles to her small frame, she’s standing firm. 

Loki and Tony share a look, they had thought she would need more encouragement than this, certainly more instruction on how to use the fake-repulsor currently operational on her arm. Tony shrugs, _go with it_ is the best he can offer. 

They’re both good with that anyway. 

There _was_ a plan but they both know how well plans hold up when push comes to shove. 

“I see you have found a somewhat competent compatriot,” Loki says instead of the more scripted response they’d originally planned. 

"Yeah, she's great," Tony promises. They both watch her puff up with pride at his words. Tony's not even lying. It takes real guts to threaten someone older than you, especially when you only just reach their shoulder. "And you bet she can kick your ass-ssshton Kutcher."

Loki blinks at him. It's only the amount of time Tony has spent with him that allows him to recognize Loki's _you mortals and your strange phrases_ expression. Tony gives a tiny shake of his head; it's not important right now, he'll explain later. 

"What good do y-” Loki makes the mistake of taking a step forward and the girl attempts to use her repulsor again. He’s cut off mid-sentence and forced to duck. _Tony_ hasn’t managed to surprise him enough to cut him off mid-sentence in _weeks_ and he can’t help but laugh in delight at Loki’s expression as he lets off a dramatically frustrated huff. “She won’t even be able to stand up to the recoil of the repulsor beam.”

“She seems to be holding up just fine,” Tony says with a smirk. He sticks his tongue in his cheek and bites down just a little bit to fight back a full laugh. He rests his hand on the girl’s shoulder and gives it a squeeze. 

She’s a spitfire. 

“That’s right,” the girl declares, “I’ll kick your Ashton Kutcher!” 

Uh-oh. Tony slides his eyes over to the girl’s mother but oddly the woman’s eyes are narrowed at the girl not _him_. “Katelyn Josephine!” 

The girl’s shoulders slump and she glares at the ceiling. “_Mooom_, we’re fighting a _super villian_.”

Her voice is so drenched with teenage angst and frustration that Tony absolutely has to look at her mother and say, “Yeah, Mom, we’re fighting a super villain!” in the same tone. 

It earns him a dirty look but it’s so worth it for the bright, conspiring smile the girl gives him. 

Fortunately, Loki saves him from what looks to be the chewing out of his life by tacking on, “I must agree, Mother, the young hero and I were in the middle of something. I’m afraid I must ask you to _butt out,_ as you Midgardians like to say.”

While Loki is clearly congratulating himself on participating, the girl is building herself up into a tiny ball of rage. “Don’t talk about my mom like that!”

"You forget I am the villain, child. I shall speak to your mother as I please," Loki gives her a devious smirk before turning a knife-sharp smile on Tony. "But time is ticking and I must get what I came for."

They don't even have time to blink before Loki is upon him. The girl let's off a sequel and attempts to fire the fake repulsor again. Loki dodges and in the process knocks Tony backwards on his ass, conveniently shoving him out of the attack path at the same time. 

"Be wary, child," Loki warns. "You begin to annoy me."

Uh-oh. Tony actually recognizes the sharpness to that tone. Thor tends to get it a lot right before Loki uses him as a pincushion. Tony is opposed to human pincushions, especially those of the fourteen year old variety. 

"I'm almost offended," Tony says. Poking, obnoxious, _pay attention to me not her until you calm down_. 

And, quite frankly, still flat on his glorious ass.

"It usually takes me longer than that to piss you off," he finishes. 

Loki's cold gaze slides to him. He takes a slow, deep inhale in a way that would be terrifying if Tony hadn't long ago realized was actually his way of trying to calm himself to keep himself from actually murdering someone. 

"Oh, I have not forgotten you," Loki says, looming a bit. Well, a bit more than usual. His ridiculous six-foot-two ass always looms over Tony. Green encircles Tony's wrists as Loki drops to kneel next to him. 

Kinky. The kid is too young for Tony to make that joke out loud but Tony knows how to put on a good show regardless. This isn't his first time being tied up. 

The struggling becomes a little more real when Loki's fingers trace over his chest in a spiral leading to a very obvious center point. There's just too much _history_ (it's not _trauma_, no matter what anyone else likes to call it; it's _not_) to let anyone near the arc reactor. 

"_Iron man_," there is a weight to Loki's voice beneath the taunting that Tony thinks might be an attempt at comfort. And If Tony weren't trying so hard to keep his breathing where it is, he might be able to actually pick it out. 

As it is, it's all he can do to throw a snarl on his face (anger is a more acceptable emotion to the media than true fear). 

Just as Loki's fingers reach the reactor and Tony's hind-brain is screaming at him to screw everything (turn off the shielding, unibeam his ass, and find a remote corner to curl up in) Loki is hit in the face from the side by the girl's fake repulsor. 

It's only the angle Tony is at below Loki that allows him to see the flash of green as he brings his hand to his face. Blood that wasn't there before appears as he pulls his hand away. 

"I have been lenient, chi-" 

You know what helps fight off a panic attack? Watching someone with a superiority complex the size of the planet being knock-down-repulsored in the face twice by a baby teenager. 

This time he stays down. Tony's pretty sure he's holding his breath because that fake-repulsor should not have been powerful enough to do any real damage but there Loki is. Eyes closed, breath absent. 

Fake-agents (SI security personnel) move in to _take him in_ but Loki stirs, sitting up and throwing an unscripted blast of energy at them that throws them back. 

(Bonuses all around for this project, Tony decides.)

(And they're coming out of Loki's merchandise payment, he tacks on uncharitably.)

"You won't always have your allies," Loki threatens from a crouch. 

"Iron man will _always _have allies," the girl defends which... yeah, Tony's old wrinkled heart warms. The sound of the repulsor charging fills the air but Loki is gone by the time it hits. 

Everyone in the room just takes a minute to breathe once he's gone before Tony rides to his feet. A few taps of his wrist and the fake repulsor is disabled. The light blocking shield will slowly break itself down to appear like the spell wearing off in a few minutes so it doesn't look like Tony just turned it off himself. 

"Good job, kid," Tony pats her shoulder. 

Tony is exhausted by the time everyone is out the door. 

* * *

  


That night, Tony is sitting on the couch with a drink in his hand and rewatching the footage when a set of long pale fingers thread themselves through his hair. He leans his head to rest it on the back of the couch so he can stare at his favorite villian, unusually touchy-feely as he is tonight.

"Are you well?" Loki asks. 

"Course I am. Today was awesome. Fourteen year olds should shoot you in the face more often."

Loki hums but Tony doesn't miss the way his eyes flick to the screen where past-Tony is barely managing to fight off a panic attack. He comes around to take the seat next to Tony and Tony can’t help but curl up into his side. Loki's fingers scritch their way back through Tony's hair. He doesn't need much encouragement to rest his head on Loki's shoulder, too. 

It's a good partnership they have, Tony decides as he falls asleep to Planet Earth and the steady _scritch scritch _along his scalp. 

Good partnership.


End file.
